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France State Dinner wine list

These are the wines the White House will serve at tomorrow's State Dinner with French President François Hollande (via John Shinkle, who was at the White House for today's pre-dinner walkthrough):

Morlet "La Proportion Dorée" 2011 — Napa Valley, Calif.

Chester-Kidder Red Blend 2009 — Columbia Valley, Wash.

Thibaut-Jannison "Blanc de Chardonnay" — Monticello, Va.

Why it matters: Though it's been almost four decades since the Judgement of Paris, when California wines beat out French wines in a blind taste test — and seven years since the 30-year-anniversary tasting, when the same Californians won again after 30 years of aging — the French still hold their wine in far higher regard than that of the New World. Tuesday night's selection is an effort to demonstrate to the French president, once again, that American wines can hold their own.

Still, the selections are a nod to French influence: Luc Morlet, the winemaker behind the Napa Valley offering, grew up in a family of winemakers in Avenay-Val d’Or and moved to the States in 1996. The label is based on a sculpture by 19th-century French artist Mathurin Moreau.

Gilles Nicault, the winemaker behind Chester-Kidder, grew up in southern France and worked at wineries in Côtes du Rhone, Provence and Champagne. He travelled to Washington state in 1994 and joined Long Shadows, the vintners behind Chester-Kidder, in 2003.

Thibaut-Jannison "Blanc de Chardonnay," a sparkling wine, is the creation of Claude Thibaut and Manuel Janisson, two Frenchmen from the Champagne-Ardenne region. Though not on a par with California, Washington and Oregon, Virginia has a burgeoning wine scene. The French connection to Monticello (home of Thomas Jefferson, then America's foremost connoisseur of French wines) is obvious. Obama and Hollande visited Monticello on Monday.